Where Were You When the Lights Went Out
by Izumi's Apprentice
Summary: Do you remember the sky? Alight with beautiful fire. A sky so bright, you forgot the stars even existed. But the stars, they didn't forget us. What kind of survivor were you? Did you seek out others? And could you save them? Could you save yourself? Do you remember the power you could summon? It flowed through the wires, a ghost in the machine. Shoot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Person of Interest OR The Long Dark (game).

Author's Notes: The premise of the story is based on one of my favorite apocalyptic games, The Long Dark (on sale at Steam now for the cheapest price you will ever find it). Some dialogue is from the game and the short film "Elegy – A Visual Poem of The Long Dark" found here watch?v=aZNbUITN-mA

Warnings: Slight blood/injury warning.

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

After the defeat of Samaritan and learning Root had in fact faked her death at the hands of that pathetic asshole sniper who dared to plead for his life, Shaw had decided to expand her skillset and learned how to pilot small aircrafts. Finch had left plenty of his personal crafts in the states when he vanished and The Machine—once back up and running under Root's careful guidance—had been generous enough to provide Shaw with their locations and vital information. A quick study, Shaw felt confident enough to fly in most weather conditions and at any time of day within the span of a year.

Upon Root's insistence one year, Shaw was coerced into flying them North for a vacation in a remote part of Canada The Machine and Root had somehow located. So they packed up their luggage and provisions into one of Shaw's favorite planes, a de Havilland Beaver with floats for optimal landing options. They had intended to head out that morning for prime weather conditions, but a last minute urgent number no other team could currently pick up delayed their departure significantly.

It was lightly snowing when they took to the air, but checking their path beforehand it seemed clear, however it was starting to get dark now.

"I'm telling you, how hard is it to avoid the mob as a common idiot?" Shaw rolled her eyes, glancing at Root to read her expression.

"I don't know, sweetie, but there's-"

"People lack common sense these days. It's ridiculous," she continued to gripe.

"Shaw, wait! Something's wrong," Root's tone over the headset system finally brought Shaw's attention back out the windshield. The sky was alight with beautiful fire, so bright you forgot the stars even existed. It looked like the Aurora Borealis, but far more terrifying.

"That is not good," Shaw muttered, checking the instrument panel.

"What's going on?"

Shaw was silent but a moment, "Power's gone. The whole system looks fried." she began to pull back on the steering wheel in order to keep them straight for a safer landing hopefully.

"We're going down then?"

"Yup. Hold tight."

The plane dipped lower and lower, the treeline getting closer by the second, the wind rushing past as they couldn't regulate their speed and soon their wings were scraping the sides of trees. And suddenly they crashed into a minor mountain, Shaw thrown through the windshield into some soft snow nearby, Root caught up in the plane's harness, upside down.

Root called out Shaw's name as she tried frantically to undo the restraints to check in on Shaw. Luckily she wasn't thrown far away and Root was in decent condition, just banged up and bruised a little. Shaking her head in frustration she managed to pull out the knife from her boot and cut through the cord, carefully maneuvering herself to avoid landing on her head. She made her way down the slight incline of a hill toward the dark shadow she presumed was Shaw.

Shaw was staring up at the Aurora with blown pupils, amazed at its distinct change between green, red, purple and flecks of gold it seemed at times. Raising her left hand to shield the visions for a moment, she noticed a shard of glass clean through her hand. Groaning she reached to remove it then the medical side of her brain clicked on and she remembered to wait until she could staunch the blood.

"SAMEEN!"

Shaw's head turned around, trying to locate the fuzzy voice she heard thanks to hearing her heartbeat in her ears. "Root?" she groaned, using her good hand to push herself into a sitting position slowly to avoid fainting. This was not good.

"Sameen!" Root's voice was closer and turning her head to the left she saw the tall brunette rushing toward her.

"Wait. Don't fall into the snow. Keep yourself dry. Is there...is there shelter nearby? The plane?" It was clear to Root that Shaw was trying to access her survival skills, of which she probably excelled better at than the hacker was.

"Right, of course. Plane's upside down, sweetie. Sorry," her face screwed up in a rueful apologetic form. Glancing about, able to see nearly as clear as day due to the strange lights in the sky she noticed a cave nearby. "A small alcove over there. Here," Root reached down to help Shaw up, finally noticing the glass in her hand. She bit her lip to hold back the gasp or whimper she wished to convey.

Once they made their way to the relatively dry cave, Root inspected Shaw's hand. "Need a bandage first," Shaw instructed. "And probably need to start a fire."

"Promise to stay awake?"

"Yeah."

Root hesitated before leaving the cave to look for supplies. When she did relent she left a chaste kiss on Shaw's lips and hurried in her tasks. When she returned with the medkit and some sticks and broken pieces of wood from the plane, she was relieved to see Shaw still conscious and trying to dig something out of her pocket.

"Let me," Root said, her hands seemingly working better than Shaw's currently. Ah. A lighter. She began to set up a fire a short distance from them as Shaw took a firm grip on the glass in her hand and breathing in, then with her exhale pulled the glass clean from her hand with a heavy grunt. Immediately she reached for one of the bandages and shakily wrapped it around her fresh wound.

"There, now I can sleep," Shaw mumbled to herself.

"Is that okay? Medically speaking I mean?" Root asked concern laced in her voice as the wood lit up and began to warm them.

"Yeah. And tomorrow we should probably climb up that cliffside to find help," Shaw said, her voice dropping another octave as she began to lose consciousness unwillingly.

"Alright..." Root whispered under her breath, watching Shaw drift off, brows furrowed. Leaning against the cave wall, she pulled Shaw into her and curled around to the best of her ability. Sleep probably was the best idea for now. Assess their situation in the morning.


End file.
